Virgammaropsis, Myers, 2009

Myers, Alan A., 2009, Photidae *, Zootaxa 2260 (1), pp. 771-799 : 795-796

Virgammaropsis gen. nov.

Type species. Virgammaropsis artemis sp. nov.

Etymology. Latin: Virga meaning a rod (referring to the unexpanded pereopods), as a prefix to Gammaropsis , a related genus.

Diagnosis. Head anteroventral margin weakly recessed, not extending behind posterior margin of eye; lateral cephalic lobes rounded. Mandible palp article 3 rod-shaped, parallel-sided. Antenna 1 peduncular article 1 longer than article 3; accessory flagellum distinct and multiarticulate. Coxae 1–2 without spines on distal margin. Coxa 1 not distally acute. Gnathopod 2 distinctly larger than gnathopod 1. Gnathopods 1–2 and pereopods 3–5 (probably also 6 and 7) with weakly expanded bases. Urosomites 1–2 without dorsolateral spines.

Included species. Virgammaropsis artemis sp. nov.

Remarks. Virgammaropsis differs from Gammaropsis Liljeborg , in its poorly recessed head, parallelsided article 3 of mandibular palp and weakly expanded pereopod bases. It resembles Falcigammaropsis Myers, 1995 from Papua New Guinea, in the parallel-sided article 3 of the mandibular palp, and in the form of the male gnathopod 2. It differs from that genus however in lacking an acute epistome, in the unexpanded basis of pereopod 5 (and probably also the unknown pereopods 6-7), and in the absence of spines on urosomite 1.